Paramount Pictures to release movie via BitTorrent

The Tunnel, a long-awaited horror movie, is coming to a BitTorrent tracker near you. Set in the abandoned tunnels under Sydney, Australia, the movie will get its world premiere online for free via BitTorrent on May 19, 2011.

"Our experience with Paramount has been positive, and we're impressed with how forward-thinking they've been on considering our specific project," producer and editor Enzo Tedeschi told TorrentFreak. "From day one we've maintained that The Tunnel is not supporting or condoning piracy, but instead trying to incorporate a legitimate use of peer-to-peer in our distribution strategy internationally."

Paramount – like most Hollywood studios – has shown much hostility to BitTorrent over the years. It's therefore quite surprising to see such an abrupt change and to learn that Transmission Films and Paramount Home Entertainment Australia, who work together on film acquisitions, have confirmed they will be backing what they describe as "the film that captured the imaginations of internet users globally." Talk about a step in the right direction.

Created many decades ago, the tunnels under Sydney were originally intended to house a rail network. Construction was discontinued and they later became US General Macarthur's headquarters during the World War II. After that, they were abandoned. A film crew decided to go down there recently and...